The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-10-29


not an action has its hope of joy or
fulfllme1t of pleasure The dull day
creeps sluggishly from dawn to close,
and not new thought has been
awakened nor a new sensation aroused
Marion in the ..Moated Grange" was
not more dreary than the man or
woman who has no outside interest,
and whose life is bound up in self; and
no prisoner ever hailed the free air OF
Heaven with more rapturous gratitude
than would such an one if set in the
way to make that interest and enlarge
those boundaries For we must never
forget that many things which look
like faults. and pass under the name
Of faults, are in reality misfortunes-
the result of conditions made for us
and not by us. and not to be broken
by such energy as we possess.
In this one word indeed lies the
heart of the matter With energy we
make an interest for ourselves, in spite
of the poverty of our circumstances.
Without it. opportunities of rich en-
joyment pass by unutilized. and we
let slip all chances for lettering our
fate. 1t is misfortune to be born
one Of the passive, the negative, un-
energetic. who divide the world with
the active and energetic. Most things
in life that are worth having at all
have to be sought and pursued, II they
are to be captured and held fast
Neither fortune nor pleasure knocks
persistently at any mans door, but
each has to be at the least looked for
up and down the street. and invited in
| if it is desired to entertain either.
But the unenergetic take no pains to
find these radiant guests. If they do n OF
come unbidden they do not come at all;
and the flowers and gems borne by the
sluggish steam on its bosom are left to
drift into the great ocean Of things now
impossible, because Of the want OF en-
ergy to seize them as they passed. The
energetic, on the contrary, are OF those
who improve their holding. No mat
ter how poor the soil-how unpropi.
tious the surroundings-they know
whence to gather rich material and
| fertile seed for the better harvest
and the heavier crop. L
they are OF those whose circum
stances preclude the need OF exer
ton, they make some extraneous in
terest for which they have to work ant
think, and in a manner sacrifice theil
comforts, and break up the deadly
monotony of their self-indulgence-
that monotony which kills the finel
nature when INDUCED in without ;
break, and which makes tho YER
mi sery of the rich.
No matter what the interest so lon.
as we make one for ourselves. From
art to religion, and from philanthropy,
to needle work, all is useful, If SOM
forms are purer and nobler thai
others. Many people do very bad ar
paint pictures that are earicatures
sing in voices to which tin kettles ar
as silver bells; write books, innocen
of the very elements of composition
but all the same they have an interes
which has lifted them out of the dead
ly dizziness of the past. If they hav
no higher vocation. and their power
, are not capable of attaining create
results, it is better for them to us
, them on these lower levels than not a
all; and the world benefits, at least i
| so far that they are tn ereby rendere
, happier-with the consequent result {
greater happiness radiated on
, others. If they are we'll endowed the
do good work in itself, and the worl
, is the richer by the achievement :
Chicago Standard.